'Naked Chef' eyes Sydney

Britain's celebrity chef Jamie Oliver is planning to open a restaurant in Sydney and train unemployed Australians as chefs.

Oliver, 27, who rose to fame as BBC television's Naked Chef, wants to go global with Fifteen, his not-for-profit restaurant which has given 10 under-privileged Londoners the chance to train as chefs.

"It takes money, guts and quality staff to train these students, but in the next 10 years there'll be three (Fifteens) in this country, one in New York and one in Sydney," Oliver told the BBC Good Food magazine.

"I'd really like to open one in Glasgow as it's a really cool place."

Oliver invested $3.6 million in building the Fifteen restaurant in Shoreditch, east London, and training its chefs.");document.write("

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He began by auditioning 1,500 unemployed 16 to 24-year-olds and whittling them down to 15 trainees.

Under the watch of television cameras filming the process for a documentary called Jamie's Kitchen, Oliver battled with builders, his budget and his trainees - five of whom dropped out.

But the remaining 10 helped him open Fifteen last November to rave reviews, transforming his image from over-exposed "mockney" geezer to a role model.

Fifteen is fully booked until March and has been nominated for new restaurant of the year at the London Restaurant Awards.

Profits are being put into Oliver's charity, Cheeky Chops, which funds future training.

A new crop of recruits will be trained every six months.

Oliver, who has also been nominated for an excellence award for his work in nurturing future talent, described Fifteen as a brand.

"I've created an infrastructure that will grow naturally. The next five years are going to be centred on this project," he said.

"I'm also planning to get more political. I want to make a lot of noise."